Review to come.

In THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE – the second installment in the “Millennium” trilogy following THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO – Mikael Blomkvist is about to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society. On the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander.

Opera's are back!

Verdi’s last tragic opera Otello, like Shakespeare’s play, is a shattering psychological drama. The new production for the Salzburg Festival is directed by Stephen Langridge, who in 2006 attracted attention with his production of Offenbach’s Bluebeard in Bregenz. Riccardo Muti, one of the best Verdi conductors of our time, is returning to Salzburg. Alongside to the Spanish baritone Carlos Álvarez as Jago, two rising international singers of the younger generation can be heard as Otello and Desdemona: the Latvian spinto tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko and the Russian soprano Marina Poplavskaya. Performed at Salzburg Festival 2008. 142 min + Intermission.

“Academy Award-winning drama stars screen-legend Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston and Tim Holt as three ill-fated prospectors who set out across the Mexican desert in search of gold but instead find mistrust, betrayal, and death. John Huston won an Oscar for his superb direction and screenplay. His father, Walter, received an Oscar for Supporting Actor. Considered by many as Bogart's greatest role, this is a true American classic and was recently selected as one of the fifty best American films of all time by the prestigious American Film Institute” TV Guide.

"Winter's Bone is one of the unshowiest and most true-blooded epics of Americana you're ever likely to see — especially if you've seen your share of indie movies in which picturesque poverty is faked by the half-dead flickering neon of a roadside truck stop. Like Daniel Woodrell's commanding novel from which the story is adapted, the movie is set in Missouri's secretive Ozarks, and it was shot there as well. It sings the ballad of Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), a proud, poor teenager with problems too big for most adults: She's responsible for the welfare of her two kid siblings and her mentally ill mama, and her father is on the run from the law (he cooks meth, often in concert with kin). He's also promised the family house as collateral for a bail bond. If Ree loses the house, her family loses their scrabbly hold on the world. She won't let that happen. Winter's Bone follows Ree as she looks for her daddy in a community where oaths of silence are as serious as any Mob omertà." Full review here.

Audiences are falling in love with this surprising, fun film and agreeing that checkout at the market will never be the same. A distinctly American story told with heart and humor, “Ready, Set, Bag!” is about regular folks who find fulfillment in their work, always challenge themselves to do better, and take care not to crush the eggs. We all shop at the grocery store and the checker or bagger is often the only personal contact we have. It is here at the end of the checkout aisle that “Ready, Set, Bag!” chronicles the triumphs and challenges eight state champions experience on their road to the title of Best Bagger in America, and their journey to be the best they can be. www.readysetbag.com

Special screening of oscar-nominee Jim Capobianco's short film, "Leonardo" before the film. Follow Leonardo da Vinci in his quest to fly. A story of perseverance, "Leonardo" take you on a journey of creativity. A journey that often leads to a very different place than where you thought you would end up.

"Known for distinctive horror movies like Cure and Pulse, inventive Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa finds just the right melancholy tone to suit a new and all too familiar kind of horror: economic downsizing. In Tokyo Sonata, a haunting half-dream of a domestic drama, a Tokyo salaryman (Kagawa) loses his job and hides the news from his wife (Koizumi) and two sons by leaving for ''work'' each day. Soon each family member is similarly engrossed in a secret life. Charismatic Koji Yakusho (Shall We Dance?) plays a mad, mysterious stranger who blows by with his own existential crisis. A–" EW

While the guiding hand of sci-fi master Jack Arnold is missing, this is a strange and compelling conclusion to the Gill Man’s adventures. Can a remake of this series be on the horizon. I think so. Here the creature undergoes an operation that turns him into a human--from monster to schlub, and now a figure of sympathy. His instinct says swim, but his human body says no. Great make-up and classic 50’s commentary, check.

ADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW, ONLY at Brown Paper Tickets

The Bellingham Ukulele Group (BUG) will be performing pre-show!

Until the 20th Century, if you wanted music, you had to make it yourself. Back then, music was embedded in our families, our communities, even our work. When the phonograph came along, none of us was good enough anymore and many became passive in relation to music: consumers rather than participants. Now, in the 21st Century, people are taking back the music, learning to make their own, forming communities, and the easy-to-learn ukulele with its wealth of old-time tunes evoking simpler times, is the instrument of choice.
Mighty Uke is a visual feast, filmed in vivid HD,counterbalanced by B/W historical footage and original animation, and accompanied by music, played, composed and introduced by the characters themselves.
Mighty Uke  travels the world to seek out ukulele players, documenting this third wave of popularity, exploring the rich history of the uke and learning about the healing effect of music self-played.

Full blurb coming soon:

Spinal Tap meets The Wrestler meets Crazy Heart... American Rockstar is a tale of a small town hero trying to break the rules of everyday life. Rock & Roll, World Air Sex Championships, booze, babes, and blunders, makes this a feature documentary everyone can enjoy! Take a ride with the BIG HAIR, BUTT ROCKING, Mega-Band, "Styff Anyss", and your stiff anus will never be the same.

Click here to go to IMDB and the Trailer for American Rockstar.

About the opera: Aida is a well-known and well-loved opera. It was originally set in Ancient Egypt. This production from the Bregenz Festival is slightly unusual – first of all, the stage is floating in the middle of a lake! (You can see a picture of the set and stage here.) On top of that, the costumes are a mix of contemporary (pink go-go dancer outfits and riot gear) and traditional (Egyptian high priest robes). There are a couple of slightly risqué moments (“risqué” by opera standards): chiseled men wearing only boxers (and inexplicably, black tee shirts over their heads) being shoved around by groups of women and gestured at provocatively, etc. The entire action takes place on what looks like a giant replica of the feet of the Statue of Liberty. All of these details are even more interesting, thanks to the camera’s close gaze. The singing and the sound quality is exceptional – since there are no acoustics in the middle of lake, all the singers and the orchestra are mic-ed. The audience is treated to near-perfect sound as a result.

Don’t miss the outrageous rock ‘n’ roll vampire spoof about a down and out band, The Winners, who will do anything for a record deal. When their disgruntled manager (Dave Foley) tells them that they are getting “long in the tooth”, he doesn’t know that his words are truly prophetic. During a road trip, their humdrum image radically changes when Jennifer (Jessica Paré), the bass player, disappears one night with a hip vampire (Dimitri Coats). She emerges with a sexually charged charisma that drives the audiences wild.

As the band members succumb, one by one, to blood lust, their “gimmick” launches them into the limelight. Following an “incident” on a national radio show with “Rock’n Roger” (Henry Rollins), they hit mega-stardom beyond their wildest dreams. Joey (Rob Stefaniuk), the lead singer, is haunted by an eerie bartender (Alice Cooper), who turns out to be much more. Meanwhile, legendary vampire hunter, Eddie Van Helsig (Malcolm McDowell), is tracking them down, despite his fear of the dark. When a veteran music producer (Iggy Pop) calls them on becoming a vampire freak show, they begin to realize that fame is not what it’s cracked up to be.

Suck is a wild ride down a highway to hell, with a killer soundtrack that includes Iggy Pop’s, “TVeye” and “Success”; Alice Cooper’s, “I am a Spider”; Lou Reed’s Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Nuthin”; David Bowie’s, “Here Comes the Night” and The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”.

Performed at Teatro Comunale, Bologna, Italy

”In Bologna [Kate Aldrich] is a beautifully burnished Adalgisa, perfectly holding her own opposite one of the great singers of today, Daniela Dessì (…) attacking her part with confidence, sporting a beautifully burnished voice.” -(Opera Chic)

Bellini wrote “Norma” at age 30. It became his greatest achievement, and it is now regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition. The title role is generally considered one of the most difficult in the soprano repertoire. It includes the famous aria “Casta Diva,” which is often associated with opera legend Maria Callas.

When a teenage couple accidentally runs over a Martian in a wooded necking area, the Martian’s friends enact revenge by injecting their victims - via special needle-like fingernails - with alcohol, getting them drunk to death. The only witnesses are a group of teens hanging out at the nearby Lover’s Lane. However, the authorities disbelieve the teens’ story. The only hope is for the teenagers to band together to defeat the menace themselves. Low-budget fun.

Tosca was called a “shabby little shocker” by one English critic, but that’s an understatement: Tosca is a fiercely effective masterpiece of music-drama. Puccini had been interested in the Sardou’s play La Tosca for some time, but by 1895 the rights belonged to another composer, Alberto Franchetti. However, the publisher Ricordi and librettist Luigi Illica had no trouble persuading Franchetti to surrender the rights, telling him the subject matter – rape, murder, warring political factions – were far too vulgar for the Roman public’s taste. Soon after, Puccini was busy at work with the complete libretto in hand. Puccini approached the opera with his usual meticulousness – travelling to Rome to hear the tones of the bells in Castel Sant’Angelo, marking the exact pitch of the bell at St. Peter’s. Puccini also made two important changes to the libretto. He rejected an aria sung by Cavaradossi under torture, instead replacing it with the quartet; he felt that the static nature of the aria would slow the drama. Likewise, Puccini rejected both a poetic aria and transcendental love duet for the couple before Cavaradossi’s execution. Ricordi found the “acting lesson” scene too perfunctory, but Puccini insisted that Tosca would not waste her time on flowery language – and of course, the drama proves that he was right.

From Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa, Italy. Recorded live on June 10, 2010

The first film noir? John Huston, a first-time director, “defines film noir” by masterfully manipulating “light and shadow, utilizing drastic camera angles, and introducing Bogart's Sam Spade. Bogart's iconic performance as an emotionally detached PI thrust into the murderous pursuit of an ancient relic was equally revolutionary. Bogart made selfish and unredeemable likable, and the antihero was born” EW. Features a second amazing performance from the femme fatale, Mary Astor, who’s somewhat sordid personal life had made the headlines--and gives her even more allure here. 1941. USA. English. 101 min. Unrated.